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From: glenn@sirius.econ.uga.edu (Glenn F. Leavell)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Sprint's New Calling Card
Message-ID: <14896@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 21 Nov 90 14:45:48 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 840, Message 4 of 12


I recently posted an article to the TELECOM Digest in which I stated
(although I welcomed corrections) that it was my belief that Sprint
used "unanchored" calling cards, i.e. the calling card numbers did not
contain the owners own telephone number. John R. Levine (johnl@iecc.
cambridge.ma.us) was kind enough to reply:

>I have Sprint FON cards for each of my two lines.  Both of them are
>"anchored," i.e. they are the corresponding phone number with a PIN.  I
>don't recall asking one way or the other.

>Sprint doesn't seem to assign scrambled numbers based on the fraud
>potential, I live in Cambridge, Mass., one of the phone hackery capitals
>of the world.  Perhaps it's because I'm a Dial-1 customer.

It seems then that Sprint, like AT&T offers both the "anchored" and
"unanchored" cards.  I also am a Sprint Dial-1 customer, but my FON
card number is "random," i.e. it means nothing to me (except that it's
my calling card number!).  Perhaps this is because I was a FON card
customer long before I ever had Sprint as my primary long distance
carrier.  As a matter of fact, my first card was with US Telecom.
After the merger (buyout?) to US Sprint it became a FON Card.

Another question: John mentions that the fraud potential is higher
with the "unanchored" cards.  Is this really so?  I would think that
it would be much easier to figure out the last four digits that need
to be appended to a known phone number than to come up with fourteen
random digits that happen to be valid.

Again, thanks for any responses,


Glenn F. Leavell  Systems Administrator  glenn@rigel.econ.uga.edu  404-542-3488
 University of Georgia Economics Department. 147 Brooks Hall. Athens, GA 30602